


Hotel

by graywhatsit



Series: Hatbots [2]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Fire, Gen, Hat Films, hatbots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 11:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4099168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graywhatsit/pseuds/graywhatsit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Alex Smith stood outside of his house, nose wrinkled and scratching the back of his head. His day really could have been better, to be perfectly honest."</p><p>or: Smith has an accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hotel

**Author's Note:**

> though no one is in the house when it happens, there is a depiction of a house fire, both during and in the aftermath, so take caution!
> 
> other than that it's pretty harmless

Alex Smith stood outside of his house, nose wrinkled and scratching the back of his head. His day really could have been better, to be perfectly honest.

He’d just been tinkering, as he always did when not at work, and the other two were off at their classes. Just messing with a little something that maybe, just _maybe_ , could eventually be a time machine.

Considering he’d made two androids indistinguishable from humans, he wasn’t going to rule it out as impossible.

But he’d looked away for a second- to look at what, he couldn’t exactly remember- and the next thing he knew, there was a fire.

And _no_ , he didn’t set it on purpose.

At least the house wasn’t burnt _down_. It just.. wouldn’t quite be inhabitable for a little bit. Until he could fix everything. Which, depending on several factors, could take a while.

“Smith?” He turned to see both of his creations, watching him with confused looks. “Why are you outside?”

“Enjoying the view,” he answered the taller of the two. “Excellent, really, just look.” He gestured towards their house, still smoking slightly, though still standing.

Trott blinked, then stepped a little closer. **[Acrid scent, wet ash, charred wood and plaster. Total damage: 25%]** “A fire? What the fuck did you do?”

Alex took a step back, growing defensive. “I was tinkering! Either way, we can’t stay here for a little while, not until it’s fixed.”

“Can’t stay here?” A wrinkle formed on Ross’ forehead.   **< Partially destroyed home, potentially weak structure, smoke and ash harmful to human body and mechanisms.> **“Where are we supposed to go, then? We don’t _have_ anywhere else.” Both he and his fellow android looked very uncomfortable- they really didn’t like to be away for too long, and if their creator went somewhere they couldn’t follow…

“Hey, don’t worry about it. We can just get a room for a few days and call someone to fix it, and everything will turn out.” He put a hand on each of them, reassuring. He wouldn’t leave them behind, they all knew that.

“Get a room. Where?”

“At.. a.. hotel?” The human gave Trott an odd look. “You know all of this stuff, both from programming and learning it, and you still don’t know what a hotel is?”

Sheepishly, the robot shook his head.

“Oh my god. Look, you’re gonna find out, both of you. Come on.” Picking up the bag of things he managed to get together, he headed for the car, the two androids in tow.

 

There was nothing fancy about the one they went to- after all, it was only for a few days, and he didn’t have much extra to spend. Still, it wasn’t a fleapit.

Hopefully.

“Right, you two stay here,” Alex said, dropping his bag by a couple chairs. “I’ll be right back, then we can all go up to our room.”

Our room. It looked just like another of those office buildings they saw around- a big place with a lot of windows- and they knew what lie in those, but surely they wouldn’t stay in an _office_. Though there may be a place for them to plug in, Alex would have nowhere, and they couldn’t have that.

“Like an apartment?” Trott thought out loud as Ross looked around the lobby, walking until he got bored and flopped into one of the overstuffed chairs. That would make sense, but- from what he understood of renting and housing- those cost quite a bit. They didn’t have the currency to spend on one, and didn’t those come with a long term agreement?

“Maybe?” His companion closed his eyes, leaning his head back. He almost liked the music playing in the background, and after a few seconds, began to absently drum the beat with his fingers. “I’m about as new to it as you are, mate.”

“Thanks for your help.” Of the many things he’d gained since activation, a proper sense of humor was probably his favorite. You could only be like Alex for so long before it started to grow old. “Hey-”

“Alright?” Their creator came back over to them, stuffing his worn wallet back in his jeans pocket. “Found our home for the next couple days. Know it’s not too late, but we should get settled.” He picked up his bag and the other followed suit, leaving whatever Trott was going to say behind.

 

Well… it was _sort_ of what they expected. Maybe.

“It’s a bedroom,” Ross commented, still unnaturally-blue eyes taking it all in. There was a large bed, a desk, a chair, dresser, TV, closet, and bathroom. Basically a bedroom.

Though it wasn’t decorated near as nicely as their own bedroom back at home. It was, to put it lightly, bland. Plain walls, generic art, oddly colored carpet and bedspread, the kind with dashes of all kinds of colors and very thin.

“Well, yeah. What else would it be?” Their belongings were tossed at the foot of the bed, save for what was in their pockets, and as Alex took out his phone to make a call, he called back: “I wouldn’t do that.”

Trott blinked at him, having been about to sit down on the still-made bed. How could he even see him? Curious as to what he meant, he scanned the fabric. **[Comforter, five years old; traces of human bodily fluids found. Traces of-]** He quickly shut down the scan before he heard anything else- disgusting. Ross glanced down, and Trott immediately reached for him. “Do not. You do not want to scan that.”

“O..kay-”

“I _mean_ it.” The smaller android’s wide eyes, along with just how he was gripping his arm, proved that, yes, he _did_ mean it. Don’t scan the room too deeply, got it. Alex snorted, but just before he could comment, he was immediately in conversation.

They needed the house fixed up as soon as possible.

 

After they- well, Alex- got something to eat, they really didn’t have much of anything to do before bed. Rather than sit on the Bedspread of Mystery and Possibly Disease, they perched anywhere else they could to watch TV.

Meaning that after a round of rock, paper, scissors, Trott sat on the floor whilst his taller compatriots took the chairs.

He always got the feeling they rigged him to lose, every single time.

It wasn’t too long before each android started to feel the effects of a low battery, as well as Alex. He’d added in things to make them feel as human as possible, of course, and that included all of those exhausted behaviors. Yawning, slower movement, blinking more often.. everything. Certainly helped- they’d run out faster if he hadn’t, and if they had no indication, they could be in the middle of something and shut down.

He’d rather that _not_ happen, thank you very much.

“Think-” here, the human yawned, prompting one from each of his creations in turn, “-it’s time for bed, guys?”

“Mm.” Trott raised a hand to rub his eyes- though he really didn’t _need_ to- but froze about halfway there. “Wait, I remember what I was going to ask: Ross, do you take a power cable with you, at all?”

“No,” he responded, slowly. “Always get back home before I need a charge. Why, do you?”

After a few seconds of processing- he was really tired, god- he turned to Alex. “Uh.. Smith?”

“What?” He watched the robot carefully, almost certain of what he was about to say, but sincerely hoping he’d be wrong.

“Did you remember to pack our power cables? Please, please tell me you did.”

Well, fuck, and when he spoke, he only repeated his thought. “Shit, no, no, I didn’t. God damn it, okay, just-” He stood up, more than a little upset at his own lack of judgement. Split second decision or not, his friends kind of needed those to be alive.

“It’s okay, just go and get some. We can wait here.” Ross was slurring his words, already, head once again over the back of his chair. The two watched him for a moment, deadpan, then turned back to each other.

“The house may not be stable, we saw.” Trott frowned, concerned. “Don’t go in there unless you need to, alright? Maybe you can find ones that work somewhere else.”

“Aw, Trotty getting all worried over me.” Alex grinned, reaching a hand over to ruffle his hair, which Trott swatted away, scowling. “Don’t worry about it, mate. I’ll make sure you both get a good night’s sleep. No hard shutdown.”

The android huffed, flattening his hair. “Good. Get back soon- I think Ross is already on his way.” He shuddered. He’d gone through a hard shutdown only once, and it was awful: one minute fine, though sleepy, and the next immobile, in darkness, save for lines of code and the quasi-painful feeling of freezing.

Sleep, even for a construct, was _very_ important.

Alex’s face softened a little, and he patted his back. “Seriously, don’t worry. I’m on it.” With that, and the instruction to stay here- not that they could do much else- he headed out to find them.

 

It actually took quite some time, and with every minute that passed with no luck, his worry grew. He insulted and they gave as good as they got, but from what he heard, hard shutdown was hell.

And, really, who would want to put their best friends through hell? Definitely _not_ Alex Smith, despite what others may say.

Every electronics store he could find- that was still open, anyway- had nothing, and, to be honest, he wasn’t really too surprised. They didn’t exactly have a universal plug, and he could make one that worked, but he didn’t have the time, nor the materials or tools.

Basically, he had only one option left: chance the supposedly rickety house.

He’d done riskier things in his time.

He was careful going inside- Trott didn’t say those sorts of things lightly- but after a few steps in and nothing had caused a complete disaster, he headed directly for their bedroom.

Still ashy, and somehow smoky, but certainly intact; the cables should be around here, somewhere. Not in the sockets- even if not in use, being plugged in used power, and they didn’t want that sort of a bill- but the bedside drawers?

Worth a shot. He tugged one open, wiping a bit of soot off onto his jeans. Yes, there- one of the cables, and Trott’s, judging by the orange color. Checking the other provided him with Ross’ electric blue, and unwilling to waste any more time over his victory- okay, maybe allowing himself a moment- he hurried back to the hotel, really hoping neither had shut down.

 

They were kidding.

They had to be.

Alex stood by the bed, watching the two androids on either side, under the covers, _plugged in_ , and sleeping peacefully.

_Plugged in._

They had _cables._

And he’d been all over searching for some spares, getting worried almost to the point of- for him- hysteria.

This had better be a lapse of fucking judgement and not some sort of prank, because nothing would save them if it were the latter.

Not even the sad looks that normally saved them any other time.

Huffing, he stuffed the cables in his hand into his bag, then moved to get in between them. They got a head start on their rest- he should get his own.

And the first one to wake him in the morning with one of their _stupid_ alarms would be out for a week, so help him god.


End file.
